With this information at their fingertips, consumers would be enabled to make more informed decisions about their energy use and, when coupled with opportunities to take action, empowered to more actively manage their energy use. Furthermore, making this information available—in standardized file formats—will help spur innovative new consumer applications and devices from entrepreneurs, large companies, and students. Here are just a few ways data from the Green Button might be put to use today:

Industry is already stepping up to empower consumers. California’s three largest utilities—Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison—are working together to create a “Green Button” that would allow customers to download their detailed energy usage with one click.

While these utilities are still working towards the final details, significant progress has been made towards a single format (an xml file). To make this early information readily available to a broader community of app developers, a Green Button webpage has been created on NIST’s smart grid wiki with useful material such as the current “working” file format and other technical background.

Article by Nick Sinai, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer.

About Author

Walter’s contributions to CleanTechies over the past 4 years have been instrumental in growing the publications social media channels via his ongoing editorial and data driven strategies. He is the founder and managing director of Sunflower Tax, a renewable energy tax and finance consultancy based in San Diego, California. Active in the San Diego clean technology community, participating in events sponsored by CleanTech San Diego, EcoTopics, and Cleantech Open San Diego, Walter has also been a presenter at numerous California Center for Sustainability (CCSE) programs. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law where he teaches a course on energy taxation and policy.